For one of the first times in years, there was a real spark in Eagle Memorial Sportsplex.
A rejuvenated fan experience, with VIP tables, local high school teams present, a pep band, and a much fuller crowd, made the game feel like it had real stakes for Northern New Mexico College.
“It was no comparison at all,” Northern Coach Jesus Aragon said of the crowd compared to a year ago. “Hopefully we receive the people in the community back again next game.”
But they could not do quite enough to defeat Highlands for the first time in program history, and the Cowboys (3-1) held off the Eagles (1-7) to secure the win on Monday. Highland won 72-65 six days after defeating Northern by 29.
“This game is going to teach us a lot,” Aragon said. “It was a tough game, it was really competitive.”
Aragon said their defense and rebounding was improved from last week, and they had more aggressiveness.
Emmanuel Taban led the Eagles with 17 points in the game. Joziah Ramos scored 13.
“We knew their tendencies, they knew our tendencies,” Taban said. “So it was more like a blow-for-blow type of game. See how many hits we could take, see how many hits they could take.”
Ramos said the team is starting to feel more comfortable together, and is improving through the early part of the season.
Taban scored the first points of the game on a 3-pointer. The first half went back-and-forth, but the Eagles went into the locker room with a 33-29 lead.
And they extended that lead with a run early in the second half, going up 44-35. But the Cowboys started their comeback with a run to get within one point with 10 minutes left, and then took the lead.
But Northern’s defense couldn’t get a stop in the final minutes. They let up 25 points in the last 10 minutes of the game, and when they tried to make a comeback late in the game, the defense left them unable.
“We lost our head a little bit with calls, and our communication broke down,” Taban said.
During halftime of the game, Aragon honored former Northern All-American point guard (and former Española Valley boys basketball coach) Gabe Martinez with a Diploma of Excellence. He also offered a basketball scholarship to Martinez’s son, Elijah, who is currently a freshman at Cibola, where Martinez coaches.
The early schedule for Northern has been tough, filled with Division I and high-level Divison II teams, leading to losses in seven of their last eight games. Aragon hopes the early-season challenges prepare the team for conference play.
“The schedule is built for us to go 0-10,” Taban said. “We’ve got to face adversity now and keep on rolling.”
The Eagles hit the road on Tuesday to face University of the Southwest, and over the weekend play a tournament at Division-II University of Texas Permian Basin.
“We’ve come a long way,” Taban said. “The story for us was, playing one half, then being M.I.A. the other half. Then the last couple games, we’ve put together three-fourths of a game.
“I think today, we went a step further and put together five-sixths,” he continued. “So now, we’ve got to put a full stretch of 40 minutes together.”